UNIVERS 


YORK STATE COLLEGE OF FORESTRY. 
CORNELL UNIVERSITY. 


B. E. FERNow, Livrector. 
BULLETIN 5. FEBRUARY, 1902. 


Adirondack Forest Problems 


BY 


Bib. FaRAO Ww, 
Director New York State College of Forestry. 


Reprinted from Report of New York State Fisheries, 
Game and Forest Commission, 1898. 


ITHACA, N. Y. 
1902. 


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ADIRONDACK FORESTRY PROBLEMS. 


The State of New York is the first and only State in the Union to 
have entered upon a definite policy of forest conservation, acknowl- 
edging the necessity and duty of the State to assume the protection 
of its most important watershed and of the forest cover thereon, and 
recognizing that in State ownership alone lies the assurance of its con- 

inued conservation. 

Such a policy, now firmly established, presents a number of 

oo which are partly of an administrative, partly of a technical 
nature. Some of these are still partly unsolved, ane the solution of 
4» others has not even been begun. 


/ 
a Ownership. 


= The main and fundamental one, the problem of ownership, has 
i*- been practically settled by various acts ef the Legislature, namely : in 
_- 1883, when the State determined to retain the forest lands which it 
© then owned ; in 1885, when it placed them in the care and custody of 
“Aa Forest Commission ; in 1890, when the first act authorizing the pur- 
.2 chase of additional lands was signed by a democratic governor, with 
the memorandum affixed that the act was good but inadequate; and 

> finally in 1897, when the Legislature and a republican governor 
© created The Forest Preserve Board, giving it authority to acquire for 
the State, by purchase or otherwise, control of the entire region 
~ within an outline comprising three million acres more or less, or as 

“y much thereof as might appear desirable. 

© The acquisition of lands has proceeded cautiously and slowly. Un- 
» fortunately, the State did not embrace the opportunity, when it 
existed, of acquiring these lands at a low price, and although pur- 
chases have hitherto been made in most instances at a reasonable 
enough figure, the delay has had three undesirable consequences, 
Quamely: first, to raise prices ; secondly, to allow a further decrease of 
* virgin forest lands and deterioration of the same by wasteful logging ; 
gand thirdly, to allow large tracts to be bought up by private indi- 
viduals and clubs for game preserves. While at first sight the passing 
of lands into conservative private ownership does not appear objec- 
tionable, inasmuch as the object of the State, namely—a conservative 
treatment of the forest cover—may as arule be expected from such 
owners, there is no absolute assurance of the continuance of such con- 


2 


servative treatment. Besides, not only would public ownership of 
the whole give more satisfaction to the people at large, but in the 
administration of its property the State could only be benefited by a 
consolidation of the same and the elimination of interspersed proper- 
ties. Consolidation and uniformity of administration is perhaps more 
desirable in forest properties than in other properties. Take alone 
protection against fires: a careless neighbor’s neglect in preventing 
the many causes of conflagration puts to naught the effort of the more 
careful. Again, accessibility and means of transportation are of first 
importance, while foreign possessory rights might often hinder the 
development of most desirable means of transportation. 

Even now the State would not make a mistake, financially or 
otherwise, if it were to settle the ownership question at once, and 
acquire without further delay the balance of what it intends finally 
to own. 


Administrative Problems. 


The next problem is that of the administration of the property. At 
first a forest commission of three unpaid commissioners was charged 
with this duty of the ‘‘care, custody, control and superintendence of 
the forest preserve,’’ and the law declared that ‘‘it shall be the duty 
of the Commission to maintain and protect the forests now on the 
forest preserve, and to promote as far as practicable the further 
growth of forests thereon’’; also, to ‘‘have charge of the public 
interests of the State with regard to forests and tree planting, and 
especially with reference to forest fires in every part of the State.’’ 

In 1893 the number of the Commissioners was increased to five, 
with additional powers as to acquisition and lease of lands, and 
especially the specific power, with certain restrictions, ‘‘to sell the 
standing spruce, tamarack and poplar timber, the fallen timber and 
the timber injured by blight or fire.’’ Another change was made 
in 1895, when an amalgamation of fisheries and game interests with 
the forestry interests was provided and the (five) Commissioners of 
Fisheries, Game and Forests were installed. The realization that the 
forest interests are decidedly more important than the other two 
interests has lately led to the change of name by which “‘ forests’’ are 
first mentioned in the title of the Commission. 

Whether by the consolidation any benefit has come to the forest 
policy is doubtful, although it would have been advantageous if the 
consolidation had been more in substance than in name. It would, 
for instance, have been advantageous to combine the functions of 
protecting fish and game and protecting the forest property in the 
same officers ; especially within the forest preserve such arrangement 
would be only logical. 

4 


It has been suggested that the change from a five-headed commis- 
sion to a single-headed one would insure greater efficiency. Theo- 
retically, such a single-headed administration may be commendable 
provided a man of unusual capacity, broad-mindedness and experi- 
ence is put in the place, just as the wise and moderate tyrant or king 
is said to represent the most beneficent government. With our demo- 
cratic principles of government, however, it would appear that where- 
ever public policy, not single will, is to be administered, a judicious 
council representing varied interests would be more apt to give satis- 
faction, provided that it relies for executive work on expert advice 
and assistance and on single responsibility of its executive officers. 
In the end the question of the personnel of the commission, rather 
than the number, is the important one, and still more important, the 
organization under the Commission and the objects to be attained 
through that organization. 

The first object of the administration, naturally, must be protection 
of the property ; and that means, with forest property, mainly against 
the dangers from fire. This is the first and foremost administrative 
problem. The only way to furnish that protection is by proper 
organization of the fire service, and by reducing the causes of forest 
fires. 


Forest Fire Problems. 


Forest fires in the Adirondacks are of very varying character, 
according to the condition of the ground on which the fire occurs. 
In the openings, in the slashes, in the sandy flats which used to be 
occupied by pines and which were burned over repeatedly after the 
lumberman had made the dédris, on the rocky shores of lakes which 
the hunter’s camp fire has wasted again and again, the fires run 
fiercely, fanned by the winds that have access here, burning up the 
young growth which is trying to establish itself. Asarule, when a 
fire breaks out in these wastes, it burns at least the entire area that 
had been burned over before, and also gradually eats into the hitherto 
untouched surrounding growth. In most cases, when such a fire has 
once gained headway it will run its course, all human efforts notwith- 
standing, until a rain, or a watercourse, or a swamp stops its spread ; 
or until it has reached the green timber, where it may be checked. 
These are the dangerous fires and the most difficult to cope with. 

On the other hand, the fires on the covered hardwood slopes are 
progressing slowly ; they smoulder persistently in the soil, however, 
wasting the stored accumulation of vegetable mould, and causing the 
fall of trees without necessarily burning more than their roots. It is 
possible, with due vigilance and without great effort, to subdue these 
fires or keep them in check. 


It is evident that different methods must be pursued in these dif- 
ferent cases. The present law provides a system of firewardens whose 
duty it is to put out fires. This duty they may be able to perform in 
the last described cases; but it is almost if not entirely impracticable 
or impossible in the first class of cases. There are, besides, mechan- 
ical limitations to performing the duties of a firewarden over too large 
a territory ; hence the appointment of a sufficient number of deputies, 
properly chosen, properly located and properly instructed, to act at 
least during the dangerous season, is necessary. Nor is it sufficient 
to have these firewardens employed only to put out fires, to go to 
fires when they have assumed dimensions. They should patrol their 
beats regularly through the dangerous season, prevent the starting of 
fires by their vigilance, and extinguish the small fires in their incipi- 
ency. The cost of such service, if efficient, will be large and an argu- 
ment against it. As long as a fully organized forestry service is 
absent, in which the fireguards perform other necessary duties and 
useful work besides their patrolling, the objection is valid. 

Again, the personnel of the organization is of first moment; and 
even when proper persons have been chosen, only a constant inspec- 
tion and oversight will keep the organization alive, its members on 
the alert. 

A great deal could also be done by systematically subdividing the 
forest area, especially the dangerous siashes and openings, and grad- 
ually reducing the dédris on the waste lands. If the State proposes 
to hold this property it might as well begin to improve it, to make it 
grow useful timber instead of weeds, and in doing so remove or 
reduce the danger of deteriorating these waste lands more. When 
such clearing and planting operations are actively begun it will be 
possible, and a financially sound policy, to employ also the necessary 
force for the protection of the young plantations. Moreover, greater 
care in the use of fire will be inculcated, when the true value of these 
waste lands, and the fact that an expenditure for their improvement 
has been made, forces itself upon the attention of the careless. As 
long as these areas are treated as worthless wastes it is natural that 
they are carelessly treated as such. 

There is one serious drawback in existing arrangements which 
could readily be improved. It is the manner of paying for the service 
of fire fighting. At present, bills are audited and paid by the towns ; 
the tedious delay of such payment is discouraging to the men who 
have to wait for the hard-earned money for many months. Authority 
to make the necessary outlay on the part of the Commission, for 
which the Board may then seek reimbursement through the town, is 
the ready remedy. 


Technical Problems. 


While these problems in the mechanics of administration are 
readily understood—and their solution is not difficult—the problems 
of technical management of the property are more difficult to solve. 
What is to be done with the forest owned and protected by the State? 
What policy is to be followed in its treatment, and what methods are 
to be applied? 

The first legislation, instituting the Forest Commission, had in view 
the application of forestry methods to the management of the 
property ; but the Commission failed to devise such technical man- 
agement, and the people, as is well known, by constitutional amend- 
ment restricted the activities of the Commission by forbidding the 
cutting of trees on State lands, and thereby ruling out a large share 
of forestry work. 

Knowing the history of this amendment we can assert that it was 
intended, not to establish a policy of non-use, and to exclude forever 
the application of such forestry work as requires the use of the ax, 
but rather to delay it until conditions should be more favorable for 
the employment of technical forestry management. If nothing else 
were to warrant this conclusion, the establishment of the New York 
State College of Forestry, with its experimental forest area within the 
limits of the proposed State Forest Preserve, must stand as an earnest 
that, ultimately, technical forest management is expected and in- 
tended, and not merely leaving Nature to take care of the forest cover. 

There is, to be sure, no haste necessary to engage in such technical 
work ; but even now the Commission is in position to do considerable 
preliminary work and prepare for the future. 

There can be no question as to the first step in attacking the 
problem of technical management. As the physician bases his treat- 
ment ona diagnosis, so the administrator of a property must first 
become acquainted with its conditions. The first step, therefore, 
towards a technical management of the State’s forest property must 
be a forest survey; 2. é., a technical description of the conditions of 
each parcel in such a manner that its character, conditions, and loca- 
tion can readily be referred to. 

The Commission should know not only the acreage of the burnt 
lands and the virgin and the culled forest it controis, not only the 
location of each parcel of these, but the condition of each with regard 
to its possible treatment. Such a description can be satisfactorily 
made only by a practically educated forester, who, like the physician, 
diagnoses with a view to devising the remedy. 

It is only when the condition of the whole or major part of the 
property is known that a harmonious, well-considered plan for its 


7 


technical management can be devised and followed. It is then that 
the silvicultural as well as the administrative problems involved 
become apparent. 

It was mainly for the solution of silvicultural problems that the 
New York State College of Forestry was endowed with an area of 
thirty thousand acres in the Adirondacks, the tract having been so 
located as to exhibit the greatest variety of problems that might be 
met in the entire Preserve. 

The silvicultural problems can be classified into at least four groups, 
with any number of subdivisions, according to the character of the 
prevailing forest conditions. They will have to deal with the treat- 
ment of (1) virgin lands, (2) culled* lands, (3) slashes or burns, and 
(4) swamps. 

Since the virgin lands in the possession of the State represent a 
proportionately small area, a few hundred thousand acres, they may, 
like the swamps, be left without detriment to future consideration. 
It is, therefore, to the culled lands and the slashes, of which the 
major part of the State property consists, that first attention should 
be directed. 


Making Wastes Useful. 


The slashes and old burns and openings of various kinds exhibit 
quite a variety of conditions, and admit, therefore, the possibility of 
a variety of treatment. But they are all alike in this, that in their 
present condition they present the greatest danger from forest fires, 
and that in most cases they fail to grow useful material. They are 
not only dead capital, but a menace to the standing timber. Not only 
do they furnish the best chances for the starting of fires, but, once a 
fire is started, the winds sweeping over the open, drive the fire with 
such fury that human efforts to stop its progress are in vain. Usually 
the fire burns over the entire opening and destroys whatever effort 
Nature has made to recover the ground since the last fire. 

In some places repeated fires have almost cleared the area of the 
old débris, and it is possible to begin at once, without preparation, 
the planting of valuable species. In other cases there is need of 
clearing the ground more or less thoroughly of dédris in order to 
reduce fire danger and make the planting practicable. The degree to 
which the clearing must be done varies, and so does the cost. 

The College has started the solution of the question of how much 
clearing is needful and how cheaply this preparatory work may be 
done, as well as how cheaply a growth of valuable tree species may be 
re-established. 


*Tumbered lands from which the spruce or some other species have been 
taken. 


8 


Sometimes Nature has covered the burn with a growth of aspen or 
birch, and, if left alone, gradually the more valuable conifers—pine, 
spruce, and cedar—would establish themselves by natural process. 
But even here the helping hand of man may hasten the process of 
useful occupancy of the soil by using as much of the volunteer crop 
for nurse purposes as may be desirable. Lanes are opened through 
the aspen growth at varying distances apart, and pines and spruces 
are set out in the lanes where they will be benefitted by the light 
shade of the neighboring strips of aspen and white birch. 

The species which have been chosen for this planting are entirely 
taken from the family of conifers. The conifers are the most useful 
of the trees of the temperate zone; they are required in largest 
quantity—the consumption in the United States standing as three to 
one, when compared with the hardwoods—and they promise to con- 
tinue to hold their position in the market. 

White pine is the king of the woods, and, with the development of 
the pulp industry, spruce is next to the throne; hence these two 
species should be specially encouraged. Moreover, the hardwoods 
have, in the struggle for the occupancy of the soil, various advantages 
which the conifers lack. They will propagate without much assist- 
ance, while the conifers, with their greater permanent and economic 
value, deserve, and with their natural deficiencies in propagating, 
require the protection and encouragement which may be artificially 
given to them. 

Besides the native white pine, which is in every respect the most 
desirable species to plant, growing rapidly into useful material, the 
Norway spruce has been favored. This was first done with hesitation, 
and mainly because plant material of the native spruce was not 
readily attainable, while the European species could be had in large 
quantities and most cheaply. In addition, the European spruce grows 
more rapidly and produces better material. 

After observing older and younger plants and seedlings of this 
species in their new home for two seasons, expectations have been far 
surpassed by the behavior of the plants. Of the six or seven species 
planted, the Norway spruce has shown that it is more perfectly at 
home than any other, and promises to grow as vigorously here as it 
has done elsewhere in the United States. The seeds germinate most 
readily—very different from white pine, which germinates slowly. 
The seedlings in the nursery stand the drought—the unusual one of 
the summer of 1899--as well as the frosts of the region, making in 
their second year shoots of five to seven inches ; three-year-old plants 
set out in the slashes appear among the weeds as born to the manor. 

There will be croakers who predict failure in later life, but there is 
no warrant for such predictions. Whatever experiences there may 


9 


have been had in this country, which might lead to such doubts, have 
not been had with trees planted under forest conditions, and certainly 
not in this region. I have no hesitation in recommending for quick 
results the use of this cheap and promising plant material, in com- 
bination with the white pine, with which it makes a most desirable 
mixed stand, the white pine growing somewhat more rapidly and 
needing the improving companionship of such shadier neighbor. 

In addition, there has been used in larger numbers one of our 
native western conifers, the Douglas spruce (Pseudotsuga taxifolia) 
from Colorado, which appears also most promising from its behavior 
during the first season, although not as rapid as the Norway spruce. 
It is, unquestionably, the best material and the most adaptive species 
which the western mountain regions afford. 

In somewhat smaller quantities, for trial, the Colorado white fir 
(Abies concolor), the European and Siberian larch, and the Scotch 
pine have been used ; the latter, cheapest material of all, set out ona 
sandy knoll, has made a most promising start in spite of the dry 
season. 

Altogether some two hundred thousand plants have been set out 
on burned slashes, and the opportunity for judging what is most satis- 
factory will soon be at hand. The Axton nursery contains half a 
million seedlings, and a second nursery at Wawbeek will produce 
double that quantity, ready for use in the woods in two or three year’s 
time. 

One of the essential requirements in this reclamation of waste lands 
is adequate protection against fire. As I have pointed out, the 
greatest fire danger lies in these very areas; hence, special precau- 
tions to reduce the danger become necessary wherever the expend- 
iture for planting has been made. Greater vigilance and special fire- 
guards will be required, and in addition, mechanical means can be 
employed to reduce the danger. Among these are to take in hand, 
as far as possible, the entire burnt area at one time, clearing and 
burning the débrvis, so that the cleared and planted area be bounded 
by standing timber or by water or marshy land ; subdividing the area 
by ditches ; or, better still, by lanes sown to grass, which can be kept 
in proper condition and serve as bases of defense in case of fire, so 
that the same may be confined in area. Old snags, especially dead 
pines, must be downed, as they are apt to be set on fire by lightning. 

The question, I suppose, is asked: ‘‘ Does it pay to reforest these 
wastes?’’ The answer is, that if the State really proposes to hold, 
protect, and improve this forest area as a whole, it does pay unques- 
tionably, even were we to look at it merely as a work of internal im- 
provement. And if, as the indications are, the cost of restocking 
these, at present, worse than worthless areas can be kept below ten 


Io 


dollars per acre on the average it can be figured out even as a profit- 
able financial proposition. This work of reclaiming wastes is, by the 
way, oue agaiust which no constitutional bar exists, and which, there- 
fore, could be taken in hand by the Forest Commission without any 
change of present functions, if sufficient appropriations are made. 


How to Manage the Culled Lands. 


The other problem, that of handling the culled lands, is one pre- 
senting much greater difficulties. While the reclaiming of the waste 
lands is merely one of financial capacity and of expenditures which 
can be more or less accurately determined, the rational treatment of 
the forested lands requires not only much more skill, but their improve- 
ment, if it is to be kept within practically advisable expenditures, is 
dependent on market conditions, over which even the State may not 
exercise control. To understand the problem we must state the con- 
ditions. 

The Adirondack forest is one composed of a variety of species, in 
which the hardwoods, birch, maple, and beech preponderate, and in 
which the conifers, pine, spruce, and hemlock, form a variable, more 
or less prominent part. The culling has been of the latter, so-called 
softwoods, especially pine and spruce, because they were most in 
demand and most easily handled and transported by water. Asa 
consequence, after the culling process, the hardwoods, preponderating 
before, became still stronger, and only the tolerance of shade, which 
is a characteristic of the spruce, has maintained it in younger indi- 
viduals, besides the decrepit old ones which the logger has left ; 
while the white pine, which cannot reproduce itself under the shade 
of the hardwoods, is almost extirpated, except in occasional openings. 

The hardwoods, while furnishing a full and pleasing canopy of 
foliage which may mislead the uninstructed into the belief that he is 
looking upon a virgin woods, exhibit in the old specimens the 
decrepitude of age, dead branches and rotten heart, and many of the 
younger, thrifty-looking trees, upon closer investigation, also show 
the signs of decay asa result of the running fires which have swept 
over nearly every culled tract of the wild woods. This, then, is the 
condition : a forest of old decrepit hardwoods, deteriorating from year 
to year, with a tainted progeny strugghing beneath, and a small 
though promising number of young spruces impeded in their develop- 
ment by the former, with occasional older trees that can be used as 
seed trees. 

Can there be any question as to the changes which it is desirable to 
effect, if we apply the reasoning of rational political and financial 
economy? Remove the dead capital of old, hardwood timber, and 


II 


replace it by a young, thrifty crop, growing into value, in which the 
more desirable conifers preponderate ! 

The silviculturist will have to decide how best to secure this young 
crop, which may be done by favoring the volunteer crop of conifers, 
by giving a chance for seeds from left-over seed trees to find a seed- 
bed and favorable light conditions for development, or by planting or 
sowing artificially. 

But before he can apply his skill, the manager must have found a 
way of disposing of the hardwood crop. And here lies the pivotal 
point of the problem, as with most of the forestry problems that are 
to be worked out on financial basis in the United States; namely, in 
the market question. 

If the silviculturist is to show his skill in producing a new crop, the 
old must be disposed of ; not only must a market first be found for 
the sound merchantable sawlogs, but for the much more bulky and 
less valuable portion of poor cord-wood which, in the Adirondack 
timber, may readily be set down as exceeding in bulk two or three 
times the raw material. Where this cannot be done, the culled lands 
may still eke out an income by further culling of pulp material, etc. ; 
but it is evident that this can only be at the expense and to the detri- 
ment of the value of the property, for it means removing the most 
valuable species, and reducing its chance for reproduction. In such 
cases nothing is left but waiting for economic conditions to change, 
until the old hardwood crop is salable. 

One of the absolutely unavoidable conditions for marketing hard- 
wood material is accessibility to railroad transportation, either for the 
raw material or the manufactured. Therefore, before the State may 
enter upon a policy which has in view the rational use of its property 
from a forestry point of view, it must change the provision which 
prevents railroad building over State lands. I do not advocate the 
indiscriminate opening of the State lands to railroad construction, but 
merely state that rail transportation is a necessity for successful 
technical management of these lands. 

The State College of Forestry has been successful in securing a 
market for the hardwood material on its tract of thirty thousand acres, 
by inducing manufacturers of staves and of wood alcohol to combine 
in establishing plants. By such combination the fullest and least 
wasteful use of hardwood materials at present known is secured, since 
all sound material to a diameter of eight inches and a length of thirty- 
two inches can be used for stave-wood, while the retort and fuel wood 
used in the manufacture of alcohol takes the material down to three 
inches, thus securing the fullest possible utilization of all the material 
in the trees which have been felled. 

In the attempts to introduce more conservative methods of 


I2 


lumbering, it has been usual to restrict the cut to trees above a given 
diameter. By such restriction, possibly, a less wasteful use of the 
existing supplies may be attained, but the main object of the 
forester’s art, namely, securing a valuable aftergrowth, is not at all, 
or most uncertainly, attained. The College has, therefore, not 
allowed itself to be bound down by any such mere commercial con- 
siderations. In its contract with the manufacturer it has reserved the 
right to cut or to leave uncut whatever trees it is desirable to leave or 
to cut, the College being the arbiter as to what, in a proper forest 
management, is to determine this choice. Old and large trees, there- 
fore, may be left, be it for seed trees or for other reasons, and small 
or young trees may be cut, if by their removal an advantage is 
secured from the forester’s point of view. Silvicultural considerations 
—t. é., the condition in which the forest is left with a view of securing 
a new, more valuable crop—alone decide this question, except so far 
as financial or business considerations must modify the ideals of the 
silviculturist. 

Since, finally, this reproduction of the wood crop, like all produc- 
tion, is an economic problem, the silviculturist, while he has the task 
of securing the new crop, must also count the cost and secure the 
result by the least expensive means and methods. 

Briefly, then, the problem is: How to cut and dispose of the old 
hardwood crop most profitably, at the same time saving the young 
spruce which is on the ground, and leaving enough seed trees of the 
various kinds forming the forest to secure a desirable new crop of a 
mixture in which the conifers have the preponderance. 

In some places this may be more cheaply and more effectively 
secured by cutting the old crop without considering the existing 
young growth, and replant by hand. This method would be called 
into requisition where the forest has been culled too severely, or 
where, for other reasons, the conifers are absent and their reproduc- 
tion is desired. 

In the contract under which the College is working, due to business 
considerations of the market, the amount annually to be cut is neces- 
sarily determined by the requirements of the manufacturer: 7. @., a 
certain, stated amount of material must annually be delivered. To 
the European forester and to those who attempt to propagate Euro- 
pean methods of forest management in this country under a system 
of so-called ‘‘ working plans,’’ this basis for determining the cut, the 
absence of yield calculations, and of propositions for a sustained-yield 
management, will appear strange. 

It is customary in Germany, and wherever German methods are 
blindly followed, to determine the capital stock of wood standing in 
a forest, to calculate how much this stock annually increases by 


13 


growth, and then to determine from these data how much may be 
annually cut without impairing the wood capital ; in other words, to 
harvest annually only that which does or ought to grow annually, at 
the same time reducing or increasing the cut, if the capital is deficient 
or excessive. This is called ‘‘sustained-yield management.”’ 

To apply this principle—perfectly proper for the settled conditions 
in the artificially reproduced German woods—to our decrepit Adiron- 
dack woods would mean lack of judgment as to the conditions under 
which it is to be applied. Measurements and calculations upon the 
basis of which the cutting is to proceed, while they have the appear- 
ance of a highly scientific foundation, are for our virgin woods really 
most insecure. Even the Germans, after a hundred years of attempt 
to determine, with a measurable degree of accuracy, the contents and 
the rate of growth of a selection forest—z. e., a forest in which old 
and young trees of all ages and various species are mixed—have come 
to the conclusion that it is impracticable, and that a guess is almost 
as safe as the elaborate calculations. 

The fine measurements, then, in our wild woods, which are made to 
establish so-called ‘‘ yield tables’’ while no doubt of scientific interest 
would be most unsafe to base financial calculations, investments and 
practical management. 

Moreover, the measurers have overlooked that in our woods which 
are run over again and again by fires, there is about as much decre- 
tion as there is accretion, and this decretion by decay in the heart 
withdraws itself from measurement. 

But it takes no fine calculations, only common observation, to 
ascertain that our old timber is past its prime, and has been financially 
ripe for harvest, z. €., growing no interest, for many years. Hence 
the proper policy is that stated at the outset: to replace as quickly as 
economic conditions warrant, the old crop by a new. How fast or 
how slowly this may be done depends upon the conditions in each 
case, and cannot rationally be determined by such a general rule as 
the sustained-yield management imposes. 

Hspecially for the State, with its extensive holdings and without 
the necessity of securing a continuous and even annual revenue from 
these woods, there is no need to adhere to this principle, and to waste 
money and energy in finding out what the future growth will be. Let 
the next generation count the chickens for which we have secured 
the opportunity of development, favoring the better breeds. No fine 
measuring, calculating, and predicting of future incomes is necessary 
to assure us that the replacement of a decrepit old stand of timber by 
a vigorous new crop of better kinds is the true financial policy for the 
State. As slowly or as fast as market conditions and other esthetic 
as well as economic considerations warrant, the old, unprofitable 


14 


investment of Nature should be changed into a new, live investment 
of art and skill, by practicing silviculture pure and simple. 


Other Than Business Considerations. 


There is no doubt that the majority of the people who were inter- 
ested in the preservation of the Adirondack woods under State owner- 
ship never looked at the proposition as one involving business con- 
siderations ; they did not conceive the woods in the hands of the 
State as objects of profitable exploitation, as a thing with which to 
do anything else but leave it alone. Some saw in the wilderness only 
a pleasure ground, a health-giving resort, a park to be set aside for 
the use of those who need and could afford the relaxation of a life in 
the woods. Others had conceived that the climatic effect and the 
influence of the forest cover on water supplies imposed the duty on 
the State to look to the preservation of the forest cover. 

To the first proposition—namely, that the State set aside a pleasure 
park—that portion of the people who cannot afford to take advantage 
of it naturally objected; as to the latter proposition, that the water 
supply of the State required forest conservation, doubts regarding this 
relation and the need of State protection are by no means unfrequent 
or untenable. 

But both these classes of advocates of State ownership of the woods 
have overlooked the fact that their objects are attainable without 
sacrificing the other functions which a forest is to fulfill, namely, the 
furnishing of wood supplies. It is not necessary to withdraw this 
large area of land from economic use; it is not necessary to make it 
an expeuse, a burden on the taxpayer. On the contrary, the protec- 
tive function and the luxury function can be subserved as well as the 
economic function, by a proper system of forest management, which 
takes into consideration the esthetic as well as the business aspects of 
the property. 

Forest preservation is attained in the same way as the preservation 
of mankind, by reproduction; by removing the old and giving a 
chance to the young crop. ‘This involves the cutting of trees, to be 
sure; but if this is done with regard to securing a new growth of 
better composition, it is the rational method of forest preservation. 

The forest policy of the State will only be completely and rationally 
rounded out when the State forests are managed for revenue as well 
as for the other benefits that may be derived from them under skillful 
foresters, such as the State College of Forestry is intended to educate. 


15 


nn 


0112 


